We’re all told that as authors we should generate as many streams of income from our books as possible, and one great way of adding new revenue streams is through the production of audiobooks. But how much does it cost? How much of my time as an author will it take?

Those questions came up during an interview several weeks ago with author Mike Faricy. In that show, Mike shared his reasons for not producing audio versions of his Dev Haskell series, the biggest of which was time. He wasn’t sure how much of his time would be required for the audiobook process. Neither of us knew the answer to that question, so Mike posed the question inside the Author Biz Facebook group. The question generated some lively response, but no clear answers, so I decided to locate an expert.

Elizabeth Klett is a talented narrator who’s produced dozens of audiobooks for Indie authors over the past few years, primarily through the audiobook creation exchange, which is more commonly known as ACX.

She’s been narrating professionally since 2011, and in addition to her work through ACX has produced recordings for Bee Audio, Listen2aBook, the Online Stage, and LibriVox. She has a B.A. in Theatre from Drew University (one of the top theater programs in the U.S.) and has recorded a variety of dramatic projects, performing roles ranging from Lady Macbeth to Juliet. She also holds M.A. and doctoral degrees in English literature from the University of Illinois and teaches at a university in Houston, TX.

In this 51 minute episode, we discuss the step-by-step process she goes through to produce an audiobook through ACX, what authors should expect when posting an audio project on ACX, and the time involved for both the author and narrator in creating a top quality audiobook.

ACX Audiobooks Show Notes

Elizabeth explains ACX and how the author and narrator work together to create an audiobook.

We discuss the way Elizabeth started in audiobook narration by volunteering for LibriVox, an all-volunteer organization with the objective of making all books in the public domain available, for free, in audio format on the internet.

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Without having listened to it yet, I was so excited when I got the email. Elizabeth Klett was my absolute favorite narrator on Librivox when I used to listen to a lot of their free books in 2011/12, starting with her interpretation of Jane Eyre, which is fabulous. I always thought that if I ever get to produce an audiobook, I’d want her to read it (if I can afford it) :). Looking foward to the interview now!

You’ll love the interview! Elizabeth is an amazing guest, and she’s a college professor as well, so she really knows how to frame the answer to questions. My research into Elizabeth was my introduction to Librivox, so we spend some time talking about them and how she got her start as a narrator. Thanks for leaving the comment!

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Stephen Campbell

Before getting into the business of writing I spent twenty-five years in the technology business as a financial guy, and then as a serial entrepreneur. I know what it takes to start and run a successful business.